United Supermarkets is a North American supermarket grocery store chain. With headquarters in Lubbock, Texas, its roots go back to 1916, when H.D. Snell opened his first United Cash Store in Sayre, Oklahoma. Today, his legacy has grown to include 66 stores in 30 Texas cities and over 10,000 workers.
History
United Supermarkets has stores primarily located in North Texas, West Texas and the Texas Panhandle. The five regions for store locations are: the Lubbock region has 18 stores, the Amarillo region has 13 stores, the Wichita Falls region has eight stores, the Abilene region has five stores, and the Dallas region has seven stores. While it shares the same name as United Supermarkets based in Oklahoma, it technically does business as United Supermarkets, L.L.C. to differentiate from the Oklahoma chain, as they are separate grocery entities.
Today, United Supermarkets is run by the Albertsons chain, and operates as a division of Albertsons.
In addition to the original grocery chain, it has added two other concepts in recent years:
- Market Street - features take-home cuisine, restaurants, gourmet, and everyday grocery items in one store
- Amigos United - an international-format store offering a blend of American fare and international cuisine
Dan J. Sanders, who became CEO in June 2004, published a book, Built to Serve, with Mcgraw-Hill in September 2007. Built to Serve is a management book that stresses the principles on which United was supposedly founded. It focuses on putting people before profits. The foreword was written by Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and the afterword was written by Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager. Dan stepped down in Feb. 2010 and Robert Taylor was named CEO.
On April 1, 2009, United opened its 50th store in Plano, Texas.
On January 9, 2013, United opened its newest store in Lubbock. This new Market Street store is much larger and features a much wider selection of products and services. The purpose of this store was to replace an older United Supermarkets store and to be open 24 hours.
Most United Supermarkets stores operate from 6 or 7 am until 11 pm, seven days a week. As of February 1st 2016, four stores operate 24 hours a day, including the pharmacy. Two stores in Lubbock, one in Wichita Falls, and one in Frisco. Two stores were open 24 hours a day temporarily after the opening of the new store. Both were located in Lubbock.
Acquisition
On September 9, 2013, United Supermarkets LLC was sold to Albertsons LLC. On February 4, 2014, the FTC voted 4-0 to approve the deal. The acquisition deal cost Albertsons $385 million and required Albertsons to sell its single stores in the Amarillo, Texas and Wichita Falls, Texas markets.
Naming rights
United Supermarkets owns the naming rights to United Supermarkets Arena at Texas Tech University. The arena is the home court for the university's men's and women's basketball teams in addition to its women's volleyball team.
References
External links
- United Supermarkets website
- United Texas
- Market Street United
- Amigos United
- Albertsons Market
